Sharon Hodgson

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Sharon Hodgson MP

Member of Parliament for Gateshead East and Washington West
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Joyce Quin

Born	1 April 1966 (1966-04-01) (age 42) Gateshead, Tyneside
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour

Sharon Hodgson (born April 1, 1966) is a British politician and is the Labour Member of Parliament for Gateshead East and Washington West.

Sharon Hodgson was born in Gateshead, Tyneside and was educated locally at the Greenwell and Heathfield schools in the town. She also attended the Newcastle College and the Trades Union Congress Academy in London. She worked as a payroll and accounting clerk in various local companies before joining Labour Party until she became an Organiser in 1999. In 2000, she became the local Party organiser for two years in the Mitcham and Morden constituency, helping the sitting Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh to be re-elected at the 2001 General Election.

She was elected for two years as the women's officer within the Tyne Bridge Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in 1998. In 2002 she was elected as the secretary of the Mitcham and Morden CLP in the London Borough of Merton until her election to the House of Commons at the 2005 General Election for Gateshead East and Washington West following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Joyce Quin. Sharon Hodgson held the seat with a majority of 13,407, and made her maiden speech on May 25, 2005.[1]

Following boundary changes the seat of Gateshead East and Washington West has been abolished and replaced by a new seat, Gateshead and Washington and Sunderland West at the next Parliamentary election. David Clelland the current MP for Tyne Bridge was chosen in December 2006 by Labour Party members to fight the new seat of Gateshead at the next general election.

Following her defeat in Gateshead, Sharon Hodgson announced her intention to contest and was selected as the candidate for the new Washington and Sunderland West in September 2007 which will be fought for the first time at the next UK general election.

As the Labour Party has decided that the selection will be by All Women Shortlist, it is anticipated that Washington and Sunderland West maybe the only seat in the Tyne and Wear sub-region represented by a female Member of Parliament.

In parliament she has served as a member of both the deregulation and European scrutiny select committees since 2005, and from 2006 she has served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Office minister Liam Byrne. She is married and has two children.